ART. XII. Remarks and cautionary Hints respecting Experiments with Salt as a Manure. By AGRONOME. Dear Sir, I CAN no longer resist the temptation under which I have been labouring for some time, viz. to commence author, and endeavour to make myself immortal, like yourself, and a great many more of my old acquaintances. I cannot see why I should not succeed as well as another; I have had as much experience in farming and gardening as most men, and have read almost all the useful, and even the useless or silly books, on these subjects. But I shall commence my authorship by paying a compliment to the Gardener's Magazine, which, in a short time, will prove to be worth all your other works. It is just such a thing as was wanted among gardeners, who, if they do not now become enlightened, the fault must be entirely their own; and if the Magazine be not an useful, instructive, and entertaining work, we, your correspondents, will be as much in fault as yourself: for should you get dull or insipid at any time, there will always be some one or other among us to rouse you up. I myself will not be without giving you a little of my mind occasionally, on various subjects; for though I may not have time or patience to write a folio volume, I can write a folio letter any winter's evening, and so may any gardener, (there lies the beauty of the Magazine!) and I shall likely be asking as many questions as I give answers to the questions of others; for though I am so old, and have had so much experience, I still find that I am very ignorant in a great many things: and yet I do not think I am one of those who are always learning, yet never come to the knowledge of the truth.” 66 It is considerably more than twenty years ago since I thought myself as good a gardener and farmer as any nobleman or gentleman could possibly desire to have. I had fulfilled the office of cow-boy, shepherd-boy, and plough-man in farmers' service, for six years, and had spent six years more in the gardens of three first-rate noblemen, in five different counties, and was, at the time alluded to, in the forcing department of a very celebrated gentleman, famous for many things besides a gallery of pictures in Pall Mall, and under a no less celebrated gardener, famous for many things besides patent hothouses, not a hundred miles from Blackheath, and in the habit of visiting all the royal, and most of the noble or celebrated estates, gardens, and nurseries for many miles round the metropolis. Since that time I have practised farming and gardening in various and remote parts of Great Britain and Ireland; so if I can give no account of my practice, or not write a letter, or even a book, fit to be read, it must be entirely owing to my want of brains, or, rather, the proper bumps on my cranium. Well, Sir, your first article for this year being on the employment of salt as a manure, by Mr. G. W. Johnson, I see you have invited several gardeners to try experiments with salt, and give you the results for next year; but as I think "delays are dangerous," I shall forestall or monopolize the whole business to myself, and tell you at once, that salt is not a manure at all, any more than it is human food, or animal food, which it positively is not. Yet, that some lands and some crops are really benefited by the application of salt, is equally certain; so are some constitutions benefited by taking physic: but will any one say from this, that Epsom Salts, Glauber Salts, Saltpetre, &c. possess such and such a quantity of food? or that sea water will fatten hogs better than fresh water? I have seen tried, and tried myself, innumerable experiments with salt; so have many others, particularly Mr. S, of New Cross, which he has kindly made public in the Farmer's Journal, and otherwise: most of which experiments I have proved to be correct, though some people affect to sneer at both him and his experiments. Even in the Number of the Farmer's Journal for the 8th of this month, the writer of a letter dated from Halfmoon Street, (which letter I pronounce little better than half-moonshine,) prefers the old-fashioned spud for extirpating thistles, and hints that thistle seed will vegetate on the salted ground, and not on that which was spudded. This seems very odd; and Mr. G. W. Johnson seems to be of a similar opinion when he says, that weeds grow more luxuriously on walks after having been killed by salt. I have often heard the same thing said of spudding thistles, or killing vermin, &c.; "kill one, and ten comes to the funeral." I shall conclude this letter with two anecdotes of experiments with salt. A few months ago I saw a fallow field, which had been much neglected; it seemed little else than a bed of thistles, about a foot high. It was sown with salt, about twenty-five bushels per acre, which cost at the salt-works 10s.: they do not measure it nor weigh it, but you may fill a threehorse cart for 10s. In a few days the soil assumed a different colour from any of the surrounding fields, and every thistle was as dead as if it had been scalded with boiling water. A little labour soon made the field into a pretty good fallow; and the wheat on it now looks as well as most in the neighbour hood. My last anecdote happened about thirty years ago. A market gardener, not one hundred miles from a northern metropolis, being much annoyed by the roots, and also the branches, of a row of great old ash-trees, which grew on the end of his strawberry beds, &c., he had frequently solicited his landlord to have them cut down, but without effect; he told him they were old and unsightly, had done growing, &c. &c. all would not do. At length honest Peter had recourse to his friend salt, which he administered to the roots of the trees in quantum suff., taking care to cut as much of the bark under the surface as he conveniently could. Thus both the ascending and descending sap was completely converted into brine, and the landlord was soon convinced that Peter was correct in saying that the trees had done growing, for they never put forth another leaf. The above is worth recording, in order to warn young gardeners not to be too busy trying experiments with salt on the roots of valuable trees; as for Mr. Johnson's pinks and carnations, they may salt them to their tastes. Yours, &c. AGRONOME. ART. XIII. An effectual Mode of destroying the Aphis lanigera, or American Blight, on Fruit Trees. By Mr. JAMES DANN, Gardener to the Earl Mann-Cornwallis, at Linton Place, near Maidstone. Sir, I BEG leave to offer you my method of arresting the progress and destroying the Aphis lanigera on apple-trees, which I have found to succeed in nine instances out of ten. The sharppointed stick used by Mr. Huddlestone will not do. Every good surgeon knows, that a wound extending to the fine membrane that covers the bone in the human frame, requires more skill and attention to heal it, than one that is superficial; consequently they probe the wound to the bottom, and eradicate all foul and rotten substances before they attempt a cure. so must every gardener proceed with his fruit-trees, before he can expect to destroy the aphis, or cure the wounds on their stems and branches of canker and other excrescences. Just The method which I invariably pursue is, first of all, to scrape off with a blunt instrument all lichens, and loose or rotten bark from the stems and branches; then pare off the edges of the cankered holes and other excrescences where it is possible for the aphis or any other insect to lodge in, and, with a woodman's racer, gouge, and chisel, scoop out all the cankered and rotten wood, until I find a clean live surface at the bottom of each wounded part. In saying this, I do not mean to recommend wanton lacerations: I have seen the ill effects of scoring the stems of trees as it is practised by some gardeners, farmers, and others, when it is supposed the trees are bark-bound. These excoriations are sure to harbour the aphis and other insects. I will engage, with the undermentioned medication, and by using the above method, to bring sound wood in the stems and branches of fruit-trees in general, although after the operation of cleansing the wounded parts, there may not be more than one inch of sound bark to carry on the circulation of the sap, provided the stems or branches be properly supported. I use the following, viz. Two quarts of vegetable tar, half an ounce of corrosive sublimate, half an ounce of spirit of salt, and one gill of spirit of hartshorn. The sublimate must be pounded in a marble mortar, adding the spirit of salt by degrees, to dissolve the mercury; next add the hartshorn, rubbing altogether until completely mixed. Provide an earthen glazed pipkin, and put in the poisonous liquid; add the tar, by degrees, constantly stirring it, to prevent its running over. I take an old painter's brush, and cover all the wounded parts with the mixture, which will adhere and give way to nothing but the growing wood and bark. It is necessary to use earthen ware, as the mercury will corrode metal or wood. Wherever this mixture is applied, it will infallibly destroy the aphis, or any other insect, and prevent emigrants from infested trees from lodging on the wounded parts, or feeding on the juices of the young growing bark. Owing to its poisonous quality, no person need be afraid of any mischief to any domestic animal, as the noxious smell and taste of the tar prevents every danger. I am, Sir, &c. Linton Place, Dec. 6. 1826. JAMES DANN. ART. XIV. On the Destruction of the Meally Bug, Coccus lanigera, on Vines and Plants in Pots. By Mr. JAMES STRACHAN, Gardener to Edward Harman, Esq. F. H. S. Clayhill, Enfield, Middlesex. Sir, THE vines and other plants in the hot-houses at this place. having been for a long time much infested with the white meally bug, I tried various methods to extirpate that insect, but found nothing so effectual as soft soap. Having stripped off the loose bark of the vines, I coated over the shoots with the soap in the same state in which it is received. I then steeped between two and three lbs. in hot water for a quarter of an hour, adding cold water, and working it up with my hands into a lather; I continued adding cold water, till it was of a temperature which would not injure the leaves of the plants when thrown on them, and then washed the plants and every part of the house with the engine. This being done in the evening, I shut the house up till the following morning, when I had the lather applied to every plant, leaf, and crevice in the house with a small painter's brush. After this I put a little fresh mould on the surface of the pots; this was about two months ago, and I have never since seen the least appearance of the bug in the house. I would recommend every gardener to see that any new plant which he may receive into his stock is quite free from this pestiferous insect, which multiplies with extraordinary rapidity. I am, Sir, &c. JAMES STRACHAN. Clayhill, Enfield, Jan. 1, 1827. ART. XV. On budding Peaches on Almond Stocks, with reference to Mr. Anderson's Paper on that Subject. By CAU SIDICUS. Sir, It would be presumptuous in me to offer any observations that might appear to militate with the conclusions of that most experienced, skilful, and acute observer of nature Mr. Wm. Anderson, of the Chelsea garden, were it not manifest to all philosophic reasoners, that a general induction from partial premises occasionally leads to erroneous conclusions. Mr. Anderson's experiment in budding the peach and nectarine on almond stocks, has been tried on the hot dry gravel of Chelsea, a soil invaluable in acclamating numerous foreign plants, the natives of warmer climates, which even if not natives of a siliceous gravel, yet find in the porous and warm stratum in which Mr. Anderson naturalises them, a palliative of the British winter for the loss of the richer and moister soil, in which, combined with the advantage of warmer climate, they luxuriated in their native country. But it is only a palliative. If a plant loves argill and heat, argill and cold and moisture |